Fortune Smiles on Ducks in 4-2 Win

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — It took a week, but the Mighty Ducks finally got it right against the New York Islanders. Well, at least they defeated the Islanders, 4-2, Saturday at Nassau Coliseum.

How and why it happened was summed up by captain Teemu Selanne.

“We just got lucky,” he said.

The Ducks took a three-goal lead, their first lead of more than one goal this season, early in the second period. Then, instead of turning the game into a runaway, they went into a duck-and-cover mode.

The Islanders hammered away with one terrific scoring chance after another, finally drawing to within one at 3-2 on Robert Reichel’s goal at 3:18 of the third period.

The hits kept coming, but the Islanders couldn’t put another of their final total of 39 shots past Duck goaltender Mikhail Shtalenkov (3-0-1). Twice in the game’s final six minutes, the Islanders clanged potential game-tying shots off the right goal post.

Finally, Scott Young sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with the Ducks short-handed and 14 seconds left in regulation. Then, and only then, could Coach Pierre Page relax a bit.

“It felt like guerrilla warfare,” Page said. Asked if the Ducks had stolen a victory, he said, “That’s one way to put it, yeah.”

The victory brought the Ducks back to the .500 mark (4-4-2), but it was far from elegant hockey in the game’s second half. After a smooth start, the Ducks cracked and buckled, but would not break.

Tomas Sandstrom, Dmitri Mironov and Selanne scored to give the Ducks their three-goal lead. It was an advantage only on the scoreboard.

New York controlled play from the start, outshooting the Ducks, 17-5, in the first period. But the Ducks had three goals on six shots against New York goalie Tommy Salo, who had defeated them, 5-2, at the Pond last Sunday.

“We got a good start,” said Selanne, who had a goal in his third consecutive game. “[But] I don’t think we have so much talent that we can coast for half the game.”

Bryan Berard scored the Islanders’ first goal, blasting a slap shot off the stick of a Duck defenseman and past Shtalenkov at the 11:01 mark of the second period.

Reichel, who scored two goals last week at Anaheim, then scored on a breakaway to cut New York’s deficit to one goal.

“When they got that second goal, we really started running around in our own end,” Selanne said.

The Ducks began to lose almost every battle until Young’s clinching goal. They even lost a pair of fights as the game threatened to spin out of control with less than seven minutes left in the third period.

Islander captain Bryan McCabe pummeled Duck defenseman David Karpa in the featured bout. McCabe apparently was coming to the aid of Mariusz Czerkawski, who had been leveled by Karpa’s clean check along the boards a moment earlier.

New York tough guy Rich Pilon then got the better of Duck winger Warren Rychel on the undercard.

The fights, and the rest they provided the noncombatants, seemed to help the Ducks for the stretch run. They would still need to weather shots off the post by Bryan Smolinski and Berard and a penalty to Mark Janssens for closing his hand on the puck after a scramble behind the Duck net with 54 seconds left.

The Ducks probably played their best hockey in those final 54 seconds. First, Steve Rucchin won a key faceoff from New York’s Travis Green. Next, defenseman Jason Marshall froze the puck along the boards.

Rucchin then cleared the puck the length of the ice. Young outraced an exhausted Berard and slipped in his second goal of the season.

“I could barely breathe when I shot it down the ice,” said Rucchin, back in the lineup after missing eight games because of a groin strain. “It was a great play by Young. Huge. It’s the kind of effort we need from everyone on this team.”